More notes

1.  I really enjoyed Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels, though if you aren't a fan of weird hellish fiction or the Hellraiser mythology it might be a hard buy.  Last night I started God Emperor of Dune and it already made me smile in the first chapter.

2.  A mellow ambient track I made yesterday: the risk of doing nothing.  It's slightly longer than what I usually create and I avoided any beats. Just straight meditations. 

3.  I find myself really excited about the upcoming film Late Night with the Devil. Looks right up my alley.

the crow at 30 years

A nice new article about the 30 year anniversary of the amazing The Crow soundtrack, which helped define 90's rock.  Pictured is my copy of the graphic novel, which I really love (and I'm not even a comic book or graphic novel-type fella as much as I'd like to be).  It's fantastic gothic art and a work of true talent by James O'Barr.

But man, 30 years! I remember seeing the movie open with a high school friend in Indiana.  It was a flick I ended up seeing several times in the theater and then I just watched it with my daughter a few weeks ago.  

new music: Christoph De Babalon

My good friend Shawn recommended this to me.  Solid drum n' bass/hardcore stuff.

Listen here.

Saturday

Another great Saturday with my young one.  

bash brother

When I was 10-years-old I was sitting on my school bus and was flipping through my small case of baseball cards.  I found this card and was surprised because just earlier in the day at my elementary school I had read a Weekly Reader article about this amazing new rookie.  From that day he became my favorite player (of that era, at least).  I spent many of those days going to baseball games (I even saw an elderly Joe DiMaggio at a Cubs game at Wrigley!) and playing NES baseball games.  Baseball Stars is still the GOAT of that system, by the way.

I'm happy that baseball season has started again.   

retro throwback grip

So my daughter and her mom really liked my Switch grip and they were eyeing one for themselves.  Because I can’t help but to pimp the rides of fellow gamers (especially if I’m related to one of them) I decided to get them the Super NES version (I have the Gamecube model). I think it looks pretty boss.

Fun fact: The last time I bought someone something like this (as a lovely Christmas gift no less), I was told a few weeks later, in all seriousness as one part of an explanation for getting dumped, “David, you don’t love yourself.  Why did you buy me a Switch when you could have used that money for therapy?” God….damn. Is it chilly in here? But hey, we all eat shit sometimes. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, ladies and gentlemen!  

faux art house

A recent track I made: A Memory Decades Old.

I have a strong interest in corny 1990's erotic thrillers and I've seen a ton of 'em.  There is something about this genre that speaks to me...and by "speaks to me" I mean I just like big titties and sexy synth music.  This song was very much influenced by that.  I hope that someday someone makes a throwback film (not unlike Alyssa Milano's boner-inducing, art-house-wanna-be flick Poison Ivy 2) and puts this song in there.  Or I might have to make that movie myself.  

an awesome gift

Last night I was gifted a new book.  This generous person knew that I had read the first three books in the Dune series and that I really enjoyed them, so she got me God Emperor of Dune, the fourth book in the series. I'm almost finished with the Scarlet Gospels and will get right on this. Very excited, of course.

Komawo, Baem. 

the thrash lord comes correct

This is dorky but I really like it.  I'm using the Amplitube guitar pedals/cabinet emulator and you can see that it says "Jungle Riff" in the preset box.  This is a sound designed for those who want that fantastic Slash (my very favorite guitarist ever) Welcome to the Jungle rhythm tone.  It comes kinda close but there are pretty big limitations if you are using a cheap guitar as I am.  Also...I can't play like Slash.  But I will guitar tab it one step at a time.  

balatro

New game. It's awesome. As I get older I find that I am less interested in large, lengthy campaigns and prefer quick pick-up-and-play titles.

evening soundscapes

Though the world as sighted people saw it was a closed book to her, she saw what they could not: the presence of phantoms - everywhere - their faces, ripe with need and unspent passion, trailing their hunger like pollen from flowers that were past their hour but refused to wither and disappear.

Clive Barker, The Scarlet Gospels

Some music I made tonight that made me think of this passage:  Unhinged and Indulgent.  

temple day

 

happy nerd today

'Cuz look who just got a collectible Nitro Deck in the mail.  Of all the gaming systems I've bought over the years, I think the Switch is probably my favorite due to its portability and game variety.  This host is the vintage Gamecube purple version (also a superb system).  It's a solid grip, especially if you have big hands like I do...and you know what that means! Yes, my dick is so big that it won't return Steven Spielberg's phone calls.  Now have a good one y'all.  

*Note: this is just a grip, not a new Switch.  I've merely pimped my ride with a new controller.

vertigo poster art

Love this art for Hitchcock's Vertigo.  I actually own the tin case Blu-ray of the film with this art so it feels like a nice collectible.  I don't think there's a movie with a greater flavor of mystery than this one.  

random finds

I just saw a woman on Twitter write "I hate dating mature men because he quickly apologized to me for something he said and now I don't know where to put my anger!"  Gave me a good laugh...but I get it.

new but actually old

So I have been playing the Battlefront Collection a lot this week.  It's been a tough release for the developers as the multiplayer launch was disastrous and the reviews were awful...but I'm really enjoying the single player! 

Great PS2-era visuals, amazing John Williams music, no tedious cut scenes, fun maps (Yavin, Mustafar, Endor, etc.) and I actually enjoy large bot battles because they are easier and less stressful.  It's a fun pick-up-and-play game where I don't need to think too much.  These old versions are still new to me because I had never tried the old 2004 and 2005 releases, but I did enjoy the later ones for PS4 (until the multiplayer took a giant dump).

The last Star Wars game I really liked was about two years ago when Lego Star Wars came out.  I still think that's a real fun one, albeit a super simple game.  Hopefully they quickly fix the bugs for Battlefront, but honestly I'm cool with just going solo in it.

depeche

My dear college friend Michael just wrote a nice little piece about Depeche Mode's Violator at 34 years.  I like his passion as it is similar to what I wrote about my favorite album having a recent anniversary.  He recalls seeing Depeche Mode at Pine Knob when he was 16.  That's exactly where I saw Nine Inch Nails when I was 17 and it also really changed me! I know that these were massive cultural experiences for the both of us and it's fun to read and write about them.

One reason I write so much about movies, literature, games and music is not just for the appreciation of the art itself, but because they are bookmarks to important moments in my life.  In some ways nothing is more personal to me than writing about creativity.  Also, I love wanking on because I am a big wanker. 

basquiat swatch

A gift from last year that I cherish.  Nothing says cool like  Jean-Michel Basquiat on yo' wrist.

song in rotation

Tricky/Nearly God's Poems.

Great mellow track.

i am a wanker

For years I have started off every Wordle with the same obscene word because I have the brain of a moronic 13-year-old boy.  

But hey, I got it in three today. 

song of the day

I don't often enjoy this type of dance/club music, but I have to admit to having a soft spot for this song: The Veldt.  The vocals really compliment the house beats and chords. It's kind of cheesy but I like it.

late night chillin'

Old Star Trek is my comfort food and it actually helps relax me before my beauty sleep. Tonight's episode is "Patterns of Force" where the crew track down a Federation observer who has become the Fuhrer of a Nazi party on planet Ekos.  It's fantastic fun!

classroom views

 

late night cable TV vibes

Here is a link to one of my favorite albums of the last several years.  I actually bought it digitally (yes, with real money!) a few years back and will try to get the vinyl when I can.  Unfortunately it is frequently sold out.  Anyway, smooth vintage synth vibes and strong melodies.  It takes me back to those late night cable TV vibes of my youth.  

Artist: Windows96

Title: One Hundred Mornings

slime lord

A new mix of demos I made.  This album is called Slime Lord.  The album cover was done with AI art and is here for those who like weird, experimental tracks. 

For this album I included a bit of guitar work though it is often very processed and treated.  I also included the use of a recently purchased TB-303 emulator called Acid V.  

I've said this before, but ideally I make this type music as if it were accompanying an avant-garde indie movie or background ambiance for an art exhibit (because that isn't pretentious enough at all, right?).  A side note: I think my favorite track here is probably Monica MF.  It was one of the early tracks I did where I really had fun adding the guitars into the mix. 

homies

A few years ago with very close friends Adam (left) and Ben (right) in Itaewon (we all did our Master's Degrees in the same program). I wouldn't mind slimming down to this level again. 

dolly

It is insane how utterly gorgeous 1960's Dolly Parton was. 

Last night's flick

Last night I rewatched, as I so often do with movies I love, The Cabin in the Woods (2011).  It is truly a great movie and one that I've frequently referred to as the single best horror film of the last 15 years. I still stand by the statement.  It is sharp satire, brilliantly funny, and in parts utterly terrifying.  It is both a love letter to horror films while being an amazing one in its own right.  

this week's new book

Just arrived. As mentioned before, I loved The Hellbound Heart and this is a sequel that came out in 2015 (though I only recently learned of it).  Very excited to dig into this today.  I still come back to Barker's Books of Blood collection all these years after reading them in college.  The dude writes beautifully. 

This month I also picked up a Macbook Air for my job mainly, but as a result I've been writing outside from home much more.  A wise move, I think.  My iPad really wasn't cutting it for work or creative stuff.

Blow-Up (1966)

I watched this for the first time last night and really dug it. My only prior Michaelangelo Antonioni experience was L'Avventura, which if I remember correctly, I picked up more than 15 years ago at a DVD sale in Yongsan.  This type of movie isn't for a lot of people and I can imagine some hissing "pretentious art-house shit" under their breath as they watch it.  But pretentious art-house shit is my jam!

It's the story of a dickface, womanizing photographer who thinks he sees a murderer in a picture that he took of a gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous model (Vanessa Redgrave in her absolute prime).  But make no mistake, it's not a conventional thriller by any stretch.  There are numerous tangents and a healthy dose of meandering weirdness. It can be obnoxiously slow if you don't know what you're getting into.

After the flick I went to Youtube and watched some analysis regarding the postmodernism in the film and...it actually made a lot of sense. I enjoy hidden or subtle symbolism in films and the type of flicks that make you thoughtfully question the creator's true intentions and themes.  This one has a lot of that.  Plus the Criterion remaster is superb.  Thumbs up and I recommend.

tonight's viewing: Total Recall (1990)

It's not Paul Verhoeven's best film (for me that is still Basic Instinct) nor his most thematically intriguing (that would be the original Robocop)...but Total Recall is still a fucking fun movie.  There is not a dull moment in the film and it has some fantastic set pieces.  It's totally goofy but it's best to just roll with it.  I wish every Philip K. Dick novel could be adapted with such creativity.
 

MTPO

During my office break time I fired up a game of Mike Tyson's Punch Out on my retro-emulator.  I received the original version as a Christmas gift as a kid (though I'm not sure if I got it in 1987 or 1988...I'm a bit fuzzy on that). I do however remember getting it the same day I got The Legend of Zelda, so that must have been the most amazing holiday of all time.  Anyway, this still ranks as my very favorite NES game.  Few games of that era hold up, but this one does.  

a matter of politeness

I have enjoyed both the book and film version of The Remains of the Day immensely over the years.  Ishiguro’s book is one of the few that I’ve actually reread several times over.  I saw the movie when I was just sixteen and was immediately in awe of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson’s performances.  I love the amount of restraint both actors give.  The themes of politeness and holding back what you really want to say (though it may have dire consequences) really hits hard for me.  It’s definitely worth repeated viewings/readings.  

Panic Attack

 Judas Priest's new song Panic Attack is awesome.  Have a listen here.  

Acid

Experimenting with Acid V, which is a Roland TB-303 software emulator.  New track: Exhausted.

first day of spring semester

 

fun fact

   

 One year ago today I met this wonderful person.  

anniversary

30 years ago this week The Downward Spiral was released, way back when I was just a high school junior.  I very specifically remember the day I heard it in my friend’s white Honda after school got out: those slamming beats (sampled from George Lucas’ THX-1138) which gave way to the shredding guitars, mechanical rhythms and the distorted vocals of Mr. Self Destruct.   After that moment I listened to the album nonstop.  It is not possible to express the importance and influence that this album has had on me.  Everything from the lyrical self-examination and expression to the intricate instrumentation, sampling and multi-layered mixing still impresses me.  

The album is, without a doubt, the single largest artistic influence on my own creative works.  I have listened to TDS a million times and have even separated the multitracks to better make sense of how the foundations of the songs were constructed.  I’ve read every interview with anybody involved with the making of it and I am obsessed with its recording techniques.  The very first guitar chords I ever learned to play were from The Becoming, a fantastic industrial track that successfully managed to mix screaming vocal samples (via the film Robot Jox), an ARP 2600 bass synth, and a mellow acoustic guitar with backwards samples in the background. That type of creativity exists on every single song here in some form or another.  Up to this point in my life I was more interested in traditional guitar/bass/drums type of rock music.  This album was a game changer for me and showed what a truly expressive and artistic approach to rock music could be. 

It is an utterly fascinating work of a man who is trying to analyze his life through understanding love, friendships, sex, religion, suicidal ideation and even hope.  There is a level of thoughtfulness and detail-oriented craftsmanship on this record that is uncommon with this genre of music. Cheers to my very favorite record of all time.

Hiding backwards inside of me, I feel so unafraid. Annie, hold a little tighter. I might just slip away. 

just a very fun day today

 

new music i'm enjoying

Today I have been listening to Mannequin Pussy's new album and in particular the lead track (also the album's title) I Got Heaven.  I recommend giving it a listen. Very strong, desperate vocals and lyrics that go hard:

I'm on an endless march to nothingness, with only breath inside my chest, and the promise of a life that you deserve, that you thought best.

I'm stuck inside my loneliness, I'm stuck inside my grief, I wish I could have been there to save you from the reach, I am spiteful like a God, seek a vengeance like the rest, For what they did to you, I will never lay to rest.

It's raw and unrelenting, it is absolute regression, it is vileness wrapped up, and disguised as happy endings.

notes

1. I liked Dune Part 2.  It has its differences from Frank Herbert's book but it still felt tonally consistent. The depictions of Paul, Stilgar and Chani were more intense than what I remember reading, but it was a pleasant surprise.  Thumbs up.

2. Actually looking forward to starting work on Monday.  I think it is no exaggeration to say (and I'm not trying to flex; it's gratitude) that I probably have the single best English teaching job in Korea by almost any metric.  I genuinely enjoy my work. 

3.  The track I made today is a little more energetic with heavier emphasis on a lengthy beat intro, some arped synths and then a small bit of guitar work in the end.  Here you go: What I Want You've Got.